Mental health student nurse communication (V1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mental health student nurse communication: responding to emotion, patient and nurse satisfaction.
IRAS ID
205892
Contact name
Paula Carroll
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Edge Hill University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 12 days
Research summary
Good communication in healthcare settings has a positive impact on health outcomes and patient satisfaction; this has particularly importance in mental health (MH) services where complaints are highest. People with MH problems may experience difficulties communicating their emotions thus nurses need to be able to recognise / help patients to express such emotions and respond effectively. It follows that it is imperative students receive effective teaching and quality learning experiences to develop their communication skills.
The aim of this study is to explore one aspect of communication in the mental health student nurse (MHSN)-patient consultations, namely emotional response, and the impact this has on both patient and student nurse satisfaction of the consultation.
This study will involve videoing MHSN’s on placement in MH inpatient settings. We want to capture routine consultations between MHSN and patients. The quality of communication will be rated by viewing and coding the video. This procedure detects and quantifies patient emotional cues*/concerns** and MHSN’s responses. The consenting students will also complete an Interview Satisfaction Questionnaire (ISQ) measuring their satisfaction of their performance in communication.
Consenting patients will be audio recorded in the videoed consultation (as they will be out of camera shot) and will be asked to complete an ISQ measuring their satisfaction of the student’s performance in communication.
We hypothesise that MHSN will increase their emotional responsiveness in patient consultations between year 2 and 3. We are also exploring the relationship between communication skills and patient and MHSN satisfaction of the consultation.
* Cue is defined as; ‘a verbal or non-verbal hint which suggests an underlying unpleasant emotion that lacks clarity’ (Zimmerman et al, 2010: 1)
* Concern is defined as; ‘a clear and unambiguous expression of an unpleasant current or recent emotion that is explicitly verbalised with or without a stated issue of importance’ (Zimmerman et al, 2011: 1).REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0455
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion